Episode 1 The Kiss that Changed Their LivesTwo years ago as Kotoko played by Sato Aiko (Atsu-hime) is rushing through the school hallway, she accidently runs into Irie Naoki played by Kashiwabara Takashi (Hachimitsu to Clover, Orange Days) their lips meet and Kotoko has her first kiss while falls in love, with the boy that is top of the school, number one in marks, the highest IQ to ever attend their school and also the tops in sports. Two years later on her 18th birthday Kotoko writes a love letter confessing her love, she finds Irie and tries to present her feelings to him. While her two friends standby with cameras ready to photograph his acceptance. However Irie refuses the letter, saying that Kotoko is annoying and when she pursues he coldly states “I don’t read letters from stupid people.” Her friends try to console her, but she agrees with Irie. Later that night she discovers that her house has burnt to the ground, rejected and homeless it hasn’t been a great birthday.Kashiwabara Takashi character Irie is so cold, emotionally distant and annoying that this drama would have been terrible if it wasn’t offset by the unbelievable Kotoko. She may not be very smart and she is definitely clumsy but she never gives up in her quest to win over Irie. She is also quite funny and almost all of the humour in the show is derived from either her physical humour or from her facial expressions, like her dreamy expression after the first kiss with the blood on her teeth. A seventeen year old Nakama Yukie (Gokusen, Musashi) has a small role in her second drama as Yada Sonoko. This 1996 drama is based on the 23 volume 1990 Itazura na Kiss manga by Tada Kaoru, the manga was never completed because the mangka passed away. The second season of the Taiwanese Drama adaptation It Started With A Kiss is currently airing. I haven’t seen this version but I’d highly recommend Itazura na Kiss to fans of romantic comedies like Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Hana Yori Dango or Nodame Cantabile. I really found Kotoko to be as endearing as Nodame.DoReMii fansubs released the final episode of the English fansub on November 27 but I didn’t have time to watch it until this weekend however all the episodes are currently being seeded so download this soon if you want a chance to see this funny drama from eleven years ago. Download the bittorent files for all nine episodes here. Video quality improves dramatically after the first episode.
Read the rest of this entry
Entry meta
